The Clock Is Ticking: Take Advantage of These Retirement Tax Benefits While They Last
Recent tax changes, including an extra $6,000 deduction for those 65 and older, present a golden opportunity for retirees to reduce their tax bills and make Roth conversions more appealing before these benefits sunset after 2028.
Recent tax changes gave many retirees reasons to cheer.
The jubilation is limited, though, so take advantage while you can before the opportunity to reduce your tax bill slips away.
Changes to certain income tax rules and deductions were included in what President Donald Trump referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), which was signed into law July 4, 2025, and amended the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
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About that extra deduction
The most notable change directed at older Americans is an extra $6,000 deduction for those who are 65 and older. The $6,000 is added to the standard deduction and applies to each individual, so married couples filing jointly can reduce their taxable income by an extra $12,000 if both spouses meet the age requirement.
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The deduction applies to taxpayers whether they itemize deductions or not, but it has limits based on income.
Those with higher incomes don't qualify for the full deduction, which begins phasing out for taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income of more than $75,000 for individual filers or more than $150,000 for joint filers.
The deduction is not available for individuals with incomes of $175,000 and couples with $250,000 or more.
This extra $6,000 deduction is not going to be around forever, or even all that long. It sunsets after 2028, but for the next few years, it's a golden opportunity for retirees and other older taxpayers to reduce their tax bills.
That's more important for some retirees than they anticipate as they approach retirement.
Taxes don't end with retirement
Taxes follow people throughout life, even into retirement. Although people often expect to be in a lower tax bracket when they retire, that isn't always the case.
Sometimes retirees can get bumped into a higher bracket. For example, many Americans save for retirement through tax-deferred accounts, such as a traditional IRA or 401(k). They weren't taxed on the money they contributed to those accounts.
But after they reach retirement, the money is taxed when they start withdrawing it. The federal government isn't going to wait forever for its money.
Once the people who hold these accounts reach age 73 or age 75, depending on their birth year, required minimum distributions (RMDs) kick in, forcing the account holder to withdraw a certain percentage of their money each year whether they want or need to.
Those RMDs sometimes are enough to bump taxpayers into a higher tax bracket.
A good time for Roth conversions
Clearly, if people aren't careful with their tax planning, they can become trapped as these RMDs come due.
But the good news is there is a way to avoid RMDs, or at least reduce the amount of your savings that's subject to them. The recent tax changes make the next few years an opportune time to take advantage of this strategy.
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The strategy: convert the money you have in a traditional IRA or 401(k) account into a Roth IRA. A Roth grows tax-free, and there are no RMDs. You also don't pay taxes when you withdraw money from them.
You do pay taxes when you make the conversion, but that's why this is a better-than-usual time to move the money into a Roth.
That extra $6,000 tax deduction that will lower your taxable income in the next few years provides a window in which the Roth conversion will have less of an impact than it would without the added deduction.
The key is to make sure you take advantage of this or any other tax change that affects you while you can.
Another bit of good news is that you don't have to figure it out all alone. A financial professional can help you understand how this and other tax changes might apply to your situation and recommend steps you can take to capitalize on them.
So while taxes don't disappear in retirement, there's no need to pay anything above and beyond what you owe.
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Ronnie Blair contributed to this article.
The appearances in Kiplinger were obtained through a PR program. The columnist received assistance from a public relations firm in preparing this piece for submission to Kiplinger.com. Kiplinger was not compensated in any way.
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